Crimson Tales
by Kalana Fox
Summary: When days turn dark and our world is black, do not fear long. The Crimson Stars will shine brightly through the darkness. Features the main cast and a slew of my fancharacters. Please Read and Review! Rating MIGHT change. SonAmy, Crails, Knuxouge, ShadOC
1. Kidnapped

I finally feel ready enough to post this! I had to re-write this chapter a few times but I think this is now good enough to post.

So anyway, this fic is my newest idea. I'm still going to be writing on Chaos and Disorder and my other fics but I just haven't had the motivation to...

This fanfic happens after the events in Love Comes In Many Ways but is NOT a sequel (after all, that fic isn't even finished). That's why Shatami is familiar and close with Shadow and Dekato.

One more thing, this story will be very long and will span over a lot of time...looooooooooooots of time.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic or any other related characters, I do, however, own anyone that isn't an official character.

Note:

_italics_ Thoughts or stressed words

**bold** Emphasized words, loud shouting, place names

regular Present time talking and the story

* * *

_Wind rustled through the trees as many red leaves were blown from their perches and fluttered softly to the ground._

_A small pink hedgehog stood in the middle of the small woods and stared in awe at the beautiful sight._

_She wore a yellow long sleeved shirt with blue jeans. Yellow ribbons adorned the tips of her small ears and her apple green eyes sparkled with innocence._

"_Winter's coming." Came a voice behind her._

_She turned her head to look at the approaching blue hedgehog. The hedgehog was only two years older than she was but he had been at the orphanage longer than she. After all, she'd only just arrived there a few months ago._

"_Hi Sonic! What're you doing out here?" she asked with her four-year-old curiosity and smile._

_Sonic returned her smile as he came to stand next to her._

"_Same reason you're out here, to watch the leaves. Pretty, aren't they?"_

_He picked up one that had fallen nearby and twirled it by its stem between his index finger and thumb._

_She nodded happily and continued to watch as more fell onto the forest floor a few feet away._

"_Amy?"_

_The young hedgehog turned her head to look at him. He was staring at the leaf in his hand, still mindlessly twirling it._

"_Do you like it here?" he asked, still staring at the oh-so-interesting red star._

"_What do you mean?"_

"_The orphanage," he stopped twirling the leaf and allowed the wind to blow it out of his open hand. "Do you like it so far at the orphanage? Do you think everyone's nice? Do you think I'm nice? Even if I accidentally ran you over when it was dinner time?..."_

_She could hear the tentativeness and worry in his voice and just smiled at him, making the six year old blush a little._

_Amy turned back to the red leaves and smiled as the wind blew some on the ground into a mini tornado._

"_Yes…everyone's nice here. Mr. and Mrs. DeBore are very nice people…"_

"_What about me?" he asked looking at her for the answer._

_Her smile grew._

"_You're the best one, Sonic. You're like a hero to all of us, especially me."_

_He blushed._

"_I dunno about the hero part…" he whispered but she heard him._

"_You can do anything, Sonic!"_

_Her ear suddenly twitched as she heard voices coming from the orphanage not too far away from the park._

"_Dinner's ready." She smiled mischievously at the blue hedgehog, causing his ears to turn down slightly._

"_W-what?"_

"_Wanna race?" her smile spread a bit._

_Sonic's face brightened as his ears returned to their normal stance._

"_You bet! Last one to the table has to clean dishes for a week!"_

_With that the two hedgehog friends raced off toward their only home._

"Miss? Miss Rose?"

A voice broke into Amy's thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Um, your total comes to $10.55…" the purple puma female said as the pink hedgehog took a moment to regain what was happening.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Here you go!" Amy handed the cashier her money and picked up her two bags of groceries.

"No problem, have a nice day, miss!"

"You too."

With that, Amy walked out the sliding doors and was again on the streets of Station Square. She breathed in and began to walk the distance to her apartment.

It's been a while since she saw everyone, she wondered how they were all doing. Her mind went back to the memory she had been recollecting and a smile was cast upon her face.

She hadn't been the one to do the dishes that night as someone else had gotten to the table last after they got there. Still, she couldn't help but miss those days. That was before Sonic became a real hero, not just to her but to everyone, before either of them had known Eggman.

She sighed as the memories of those days sank in. She suddenly ceased her walking and looked up to see where she was and fought tears from her eyes as she gazed upon the abandoned building. It had once been her home, it had been Sonic's home before she had even been there.

The building was gray from age and the wood X's covering the windows were showing signs of decay. She looked into a part of one of the dusty windows that was broken and saw the emptiness of the building. For a brief moment she thought she saw a scene of the other orphans playing Tacks while she and Sonic watched TV with the elderly couple, but when she blinked the image vanished to be replaced by the emptiness.

Sighing heavily again she continued to go on to her apartment, the weight of the bags starting to become a nuisance to her arms.

She walked for five more minutes. Finally, she could begin to see the door of her apartment building but was suddenly stopped by a woman's scream. She turned swiftly to see what was wrong but was stopped from doing anything by feeling the rush of the ground no longer under her feet and her grocery bags forgotten on the street.

She tried to see her captor but found herself unable to move, she wasn't even able to move her mouth to scream, all she was able to do was breath. She noted the feeling of rough, cold metallic arms around her body but noted nothing else as all went black.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Somewhere in Westopolis, midday**

"Lunch is served!" the magenta and purple hedgehog exclaimed happily from atop the rooftop of a building.

The black and red feline mewled her excitement next to her.

"I know you're hungry, Nightfire, that's why I got you this!" Shatami held out a fresh tuna to her cat friend. The cat meowed and happily grabbed the fish and began to eat.

"We should've invited Shadow to come along." She said as she got out her own food and began to eat. "But he said he had a Government-related mission to do so he wouldn't have been able to come anyway. Ah well, his loss of my cooking!"

Nightfire mewed her agreement as the female hedgehog laughed with amusement.

She continued to eat until Nightfire suddenly dropped her half-eaten fish and began to hiss and growl at something.

"Night? What's wrong? What do you—" She was cut off as she felt something hard and metallic hit her head and she blacked out, feeling the rush of wind against her face.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Meanwhile at Shadow's apartment**

Dekato sat down on the couch gazing adoringly at the slice of cheese he was eating and humming randomly to himself.

His ears perked at the sound of the door being opened as he swallowed what was in his mouth.

As the nearby door opened Shadow walked in, carelessly letting the door slam behind him.

The red and black hedgehog's ears drooped a little at the apparent annoyance on his brother's face.

"H-hey bro, how'd the mission go? Wasn't expecting you back this early."

Shadow just grunted and passed his twin without looking at him.

"I'll take that as a 'I don't want to talk about it' silent statement."

Shadow turned to glare at his idiotic non-identical twin, making the slightly younger hedgehog pin his ears down at the angry gaze.

"Um…by the way…"

"What?" the black and red hedgehog stressed his annoyance.

Dekato gulped, not knowing if he'd be beaten or would be heard out by the currently irate hedgehog. Shadow could be violent when he was really mad.

"Shatami came by not too long ago, she wanted to know if you could eat lunch with her."

"And you told her…?"

Dekato smirked, not resisting the joke that came to his mind.

"I told the beautiful lady that her dear hedgehog was not here and was instead picking some flowers. I then proceeded to woo the lonely—"

"Dekato…"

The younger hedgehog looked at his brother and drooped his ears lower at the killing gaze. Shadow began to walk toward him, the look to kill never leaving his eyes.

Dekato backed up slightly and put his hands up in defenselessness.

"C-calm down, bro! I jest! I would never try to woo the lady of my dear and only brother, despite her ever present beauty and lushness."

Shadow growled as he continued to walk toward Dekato in intimidation, making his eyes grow really wide and his irises to turn small.

"Dekato…" Shadow said calmly looking at the cowering hedgehog in front of him. "Shut up!" he brought the side of his closed fist on top of his brother's head then calmly walked again toward the kitchen.

Dekato rubbed the his head then smoothed out his hair.

"So what exactly happened that made you so mad?"

"He got away…" was the response from the kitchen.

Dekato raised a questioning eyebrow in the general direction of his serious brother then shrugged and continued to eat his abandoned slice of cheese in happiness.

Shadow came back with a simple sandwich and sat in his chair across from the sofa.

Dekato began to stare at his cheese, his crimson eyes glazed over slightly as if in a daze. Drool began to collect slightly at his mouth and Shadow rolled his own ruby eyes in annoyance.

"Pervert…fantasizing about that girl again?"

Dekato's gaze snapped back to normal and he stared at the older hedgehog.

"Why whatever do you mean, Shaddy?"

"You know what I mean you—" he was stopped by the sound of high pitched mewls and shrieks outside the balcony doors.

Both of them turned to see a black and red cat pawing fiercely at the glass making panicked and desperate meowing sounds.

"What the…?" Dekato stated his curiosity.

"That's Nightfire…what could she be doing here?" Shadow asked aloud as he got up to let the cat in.

Upon opening the glass door the black and red cat streaked in and began meowing frantically as if trying to speak.

"I think she's trying to say something…"

Shadow glared at his twin who just shrugged.

"Something's wrong…Shatami is usually with her, what could be making her so frantic…"

The cat turned her big red eyes to him and he looked in them, reading the message the cat couldn't speak aloud.

"I see…"

"See what?" Dekato questioned from where he sat, staring at the two silently communicate.

Shadow picked up the small cat and turned to Dekato.

"Stay here and look after things, I have to go find someone." With that he grabbed his Chaos Emerald and chaos controlled out of the room to who-knows-where.

Dekato scratched his head in confusion then shrugged as he picked up one of his favorite magazines and opened to the first page.

"Ah, my beauties, did you miss my gaze upon your luscious bodies?"

* * *

And with that, ends Chapter 1! Whatever happened to Amy and Shatami? Does the "He got away..." have any significance? All shall be answered in the next chapter!

Hehe, anyone with a perverted mind can probably guess the magazine Dekato is looking at. Or at least, the furry version of said magazine.

And by the way, Shadow wasn't being abusive to his twin, if that's what anyone thought. Dekato tends to be really stupid and perverted when he means to be good so he gets rewarded by getting slapped and bonked on the head by Shadow. Also, even though they are "twins" so to say, Shadow was created before Dekato was so he is, in a sense, the oldest one although they are twins.

I hope ya'll enjoyed this! I plan to work on the second chapter right now!

Kalana Fox


	2. A story?

Hey ya'll, chapter two is now done! This story is passing amazingly smooth to me so far. I don't mind if you don't review this story, but I would at least appreciate being told how it is and what I can do to improve it while I'm still writing it. I'm thankful to those 39 people so far who have viewed this fledgling fic, so kudos to you all!

Ok, enough of my babbling, now...I should've put this in Chapter 1 but I'll put it here now so no one gets confused later on.

-The Ages of the Characters/Cast-

Sonic - 15  
Amy - 13 (so I made em two years closer, got a problem with that?)  
Tails - 11  
Shadow - (about) 16  
Dekato - (about) 16  
Knuckles - 16  
Rouge - 17  
Shatami - 16  
Kalana - 14  
Luko - 11  
Cream - 10

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone who is an official Sonic character nor do I own the Sonic franchise. Any fanmade chars are my own, however, and are mine alone! No stealy! This story is mine too!

* * *

The waves of the Emerald Sea lapped softly at the sands of Emerald Coast. The wind blew soft to rustle the long leaves of the palm trees before silencing again.

As swiftly as the wind died it started again as a blur of blue ran past, swirling the air around him.

Sonic was out for his evening run, swiftly dodging pedestrians that happened to be on his path. Ahead of him he noticed a flash of light and immediately skidded to a halt on the concrete sidewalk when he saw the familiar black figure.

"Shadow?" he questioned as the light faded to confirm his suspicion.

"Good evening, faker." Shadow smirked at Sonic's slightly annoyed face.

"Heh, you're a little far from home. What brings you here?" it was then that Sonic noticed the black hedgehog wasn't completely alone and took note of the black and red cat that rested against his chest. "And who's that?"

"Nightfire, she's Shatami's cat. I've come to look for you because I need your help, strange as that sounds."

Sonic's eyes widened slightly. Indeed, Shadow was never one to ask for help, and if he did it usually was for something serious.

"What is it?..." Sonic asked crossing his arms over his chest to wait for the answer.

"Something's happened to Shatami…Nightfire says she was kidnapped…"

"Shad…cats don't talk…unless they walk like us."

"She didn't talk, her eyes said everything she couldn't."

Sonic raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Whatever you say Shadow…"

"I'm serious! Look!" he shifted Nightfire and placed the cat in Sonic's arms, surprising the blue hedgehog to move a little to not drop her. "Look into her eyes!"

Sonic blinked at his friendly rival but did as he was told. He continued to stare into the cat's crimson eyes as he saw pictures in his mind of what had transpired through what the cat saw.

"Hmm…" Sonic said when the images ended. "Maybe we should go to Tails…he might know what's going on."

He handed the cat gently back to Shadow.

"To the train station!"

Before he wasn't able to move though, Shadow had grabbed a hold of his arm.

"I don't have time for that! We're getting there my way! Chaos Control!"

Within an instant they were outside the train terminal in the Mystic Ruins.

"Jeeze Shadow, all you had to do was ask, didn't know you wanted to save your girlfriend that badly."

Shadow lowered his eyes in a menacing glare.

"She isn't my girlfriend! She's just a really close person! That's all!" Shadow's gaze faltered slightly to the ground making the blue hedgehog smirk.

"Sure she is, Shad, sure she is…"

Sonic turned and walked the short distance to Tails' hut, Shadow following behind, all the while glaring daggers into the back of his former adversary's skull.

Nightfire mewled slightly to remind the hedgehog she was in his arms and to not crush her.

"Sorry, Night." Shadow whispered and loosened his grip slightly.

The threesome were now in front of the door. Sonic gave a soft knock to the wood and the sound of "Coming!" was heard on the other side of the door. Shortly after the door opened to reveal a golden-yellow fox, older than Tails, but younger than the two hedgehogs.

"Kalana! What're you doing here?" Sonic asked.

"We're visiting, Tails was a little busy so he asked me to answer the door. Come on in." She opened the door a little more to allow them passage, they complied and stepped in as she closed the door behind them.

Sonic saw why his best friend was so busy. He and Luko, a dark orange fox about his same age, were locked in a heavy game of Counterstrike.

"Tails, Sonic and Shadow are here." Kalana said lowering her ears a little, wondering if her cousin even heard her.

"How come you're not playing with them? I thought you liked video games." Sonic said.

"I do, but I suck at first person shooters. All I can do is shoot aimlessly and hope I hit something I'm supposed to."

Sonic laughed imagining what it must look like for the three-tailed fox to play an FPS. Shadow just stood behind him, growing more irate by the second. He wanted to know what was happening to Shatami and he wanted to know _**now**_.

"Fox!" he barked loudly causing both foxes on the couch to jump and Tails to die in the game.

The two-tailed fox turned to his two new guests.

"What's wrong, Sonic?" he asked.

"Something happened to Shatami and Shadow wants to find out what and why."

Shadow took this cue to calmly walk over to the young fox and place Nightfire in his lap.

The two-tailed fox took a moment to look at the cat, who at his young age was big enough to him to cover almost half of his body, then at the hedgehog in a questioning manner.

"Her name's Nightfire. Look into her eyes to see what happened."

Tails then looked at Sonic who nodded with a serious expression. He then turned his gaze back to Nightfire and did as he was told.

As the images passed through his mind's eye his eyebrows furrowed. When they finished he put a hand to his chin in thought as Nightfire moved herself off of him.

"A robot…" he replayed the image the cat had showed him of the robot taking Shatami then gasped as a memory suddenly crashed to his awareness.

"Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog perked his ears up to symbolize he was listening to his friend.

"Amy! She was taken by a robot too! It was on the news not too long ago a woman said she saw a robot swoop down suddenly and spirit away the pink hedgehog that had been walking in front of her."

"WHAT?!" Sonic shouted, now learning of this.

Shadow chuckled with his arms crossed over his own chest.

"Looks like someone wants to save _**their**_ girlfriend too."

"Shut up! She isn't my girlfriend, she's my friend!" Sonic turned to the ebony and crimson hedgehog and glared at him.

"Really now?" Shadow said calmly and coolly. "Your face tells differently." He smirked at getting his revenge.

Sonic growled and deepened his glare. He was about to say a retort but Kalana stepped between them.

"Guys, quit fighting, this is neither the time nor the place and friends shouldn't fight! It's wrong!"

Tails took this moment to clear his throat and regain the attention of the previously quarreling hedgehogs.

"I think that this robot belongs to Eggman, but what would he want with Amy and Shatami…something's not right…"

"Eggman, huh?" Sonic cracked his knuckles against his open palm. "Why don't we pay the doctor a little visit? Who knows, we might find Amy and Shatami, along with some very valuable answers."

"If they're going, I wanna go too! I have some unfinished business with that fat egg!" Luko chimed in from his seat next to Tails.

Kalana glared sternly at her little brother, silencing him.

"No, Luko, you can't go with them, not unless you get rid of that grudge." She stated firmly.

"Aww come on…" Luko's ears drooped slightly at his spirits being crushed.

"She's right, Luko. Besides, it might be dangerous. You can never be too sure of what tricks Eggman has up his sleeve." Sonic agreed

"Can we go now?!" Shadow was visibly fuming a bit, making Sonic snicker.

"Yes, Romeo, we'll go save your fair Juliet."

Shadow lowered his eyes a bit in a glare then gave a mock-evil smirk.

"Same to you, loverboy."

Sonic's face changed to mimic Shadow's glare. Tails sighed from his seat and shook his head. This might take a bit.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Unknown location**

"Ugh…" Amy groaned and tried to sit up but found she couldn't move her arms at all. "Wha?" she opened her eyes to find herself in a dark room.

From what she could tell, the floor was stone and what kept her hands together was solid metal, perhaps shackles. She tested her feet and found they were movable, moving them so that she could rest her back against the stone wall instead of the floor. She took note of the metal door with a very tiny, barred window.

"Where am I?" She asked aloud to seemingly no one.

"No clue." Came a familiar voice from across the cell.

"Shatami? Is that you? How'd you get here?!"

"Same way you did." Came another familiar voice.

"Rouge?!?!"

Her eyes were adjusted to the dimly lit darkness and she could now partially make out the silhouettes of the other two females.

"Who took us? Why are we here," she tried to move her hands but was restricted by the shackles. "Like this?"

"Based on this cell, it smells of Eggman, but why remains a mystery." Rouge answered.

"I wonder if Nightfire's ok…she was with me when I got abducted."

"I'm sure she's alright, she probably went to go alert Shadow. I bet they're on their way here now!" Amy encouraged.

Shatami smiled, though it went unseen.

"I appreciate that…hopefully whatever Eggman plans to do he won't get to—"

"Wrong!" a different voice broke in from outside the cell door. The sound of a lock turning was heard before the door swung open, revealing the silhouette of Eggman.

"Sorry to say but your boyfriends won't be able to make it in time to rescue you."

"Just what do you plan to do to us, you talking egg!" Amy tried to stand up to give him a piece of her mind but got weighted down by the shackles.

"Tsk, tsk, such a feisty little hedgehog. Unfortunately for you three…wait, three?!" he looked around the now illuminated room as if looking for something else.

"E5000!" he shouted angrily, a silver gryphon-like robot appeared at his side.

"Yes, master Robotnik?" it asked in its metallic voice.

"There are supposed to be FOUR! Not THREE! Where is the fourth one!?"

"Fourth subject not found. Scan negative."

"Grrr, then go back out there and search the entire area, no, the entire continent if you must! I don't care, just find me the fourth star!"

The robot imitated a version of a nod then disappeared instantly. Eggman turned his attention back to his three captives.

"It appears you were lucky this time. Mark my words though, when my new robot finds the fourth of you three, you will all be doomed."

He then slammed the door shut, once again plummeting the room into dim darkness and locked the door. The three girls listened as his footsteps faded away then began to talk again.

"What was he babbling about?" Amy asked.

"No clue, probably another lame scheme his ancient brain has come up with." Rouge answered.

"The fourth star…"

Amy and Rouge's ears perked up at Shatami's whispering voice.

"What? Do you know something about what he said, girly?" Rouge asked.

"Maybe…I'm not really sure but I…think I might…" Shatami whispered again, trying to remember as much as she could.

"Please share, I'm really confused." Amy stated.

"Before I…came here…when my friends and I lived in our village…there was a story I once heard from a passing story teller. The story was about these four female warriors who helped in a big fight between the Gods and Goddesses of the Emeralds, and the Beasts of Chaos. The story went on to tell of their heroic deeds and that when the battle was over and the Beasts were sealed away, the Gods and Goddesses bestowed upon the warriors a special mark of a four-point red star to symbolize their bravery and heroicness. The mark apparently also acted as a sort of container for the special powers that each warrior possessed. The teller went on to say that the descendants of the warriors were all born with that same mark but possessed different skills than their warrior ancestors. The mark apparently stays hidden every two-hundred years before becoming visible on the current descendants."

Shatami shook her head slightly,

"But that's just a story…stories like that aren't real…"

"Hmm…maybe the old guy got wind of that same story and thought it was real…" Rouge wondered.

"But then why would he capture us? The story gives no reason, so why us and whoever it is he sent his pet robot after?" asked Amy, thinking about what Shatami had told them.

"There was more to the story…"

The bat and pink hedgehog turned their eyes back to the magenta and violet hedgehog.

"But I can't remember the rest of it…it was a really long time ago…" she averted her eyes to the floor in between her feet. "Sorry…"

"It's not your fault, Shatami. The rest might come to you sooner or later." Amy said, trying to lift the other hedgehog's spirit.

"Thanks, Amy…"

Rouge sighed from where she sat.

"I hate being treated like this, this position is uncomfortable and these shackles are probably ruining my gloves!"

Amy looked at her own shackles that were resting on her wrists in her lap. She tried to move her arms around again but gave up when it was obvious she was getting nowhere.

"I guess we're stuck here…" she whispered.

* * *

And thus brings chapter 2 to a close! So it appears Rouge was captured too, huh? Eggman's weird, XD. Next chapter is coming soon!

Kalana Fox


End file.
